Hi All,
The world shifted for me today, and became a little harder for awhile.
The Thorn Forum has lost a loyal but quiet member, my father Jack (membername jpine), passed at age 97 due to Alzheimer's, failing kidneys, and a leaky heart valve. Said he didn't want a funeral 'cos he had other places to be.
Named "Daddy" by my sister a decade before my arrival, he answered to nothing else and became "Daddy Boy" to my "Danny Boy", a traditional song he loved and played and a touchstone to his heritage. We were always close.
Bound to a desk job for over 30 years, he retired at age 63, early in my university studies. He reveled in his newfound hobby of bicycle touring and we took many rides together into the rugged, remote backcountry of Oregon's wilderness, including the Coast Range, the Calapooyas, and the Cascade mountain range. He was always game for a ride and put over 13,000 miles on his first tourer before switching to another with even lower gearing (I custom-made the compact crankset and modified the derailleurs to help him up the hills -- treachery and cunning over youth and agility, he said).
Father, buddy, touring partner, we enjoyed many of the same things and shared a passion for anything with wheels, cycling, camping, touring, custom gearing, and computers. He loved his, and spent the better part of his later days online, enjoying activities here. He knew of you all and cared a great deal about how you fared, following tales of mechanical bafflement and tours alike -- "Almost as good as going myself", he said, living his later adventures vicariously.
We did the last of the real adventures together on the eve of his 74th birthday, when we toured the alpine slopes of Oregon's Diamond Peak at well over a mile high. He had a fall that took out three ribs in an area so remote, steep, and heavily forested a helicopter couldn't have landed even if we'd been able to call one. In testimony to his grit, he rode another 35 miles on logging roads, dropping 2500 vertical feet till we could reach a fishing camp the day before it closed for the season. A lucky accident, as the woods were closed to wildfire the next day. Despite the early end and injuries, this remained "the best tour" in his retellings and shows how game he was for Adventure. He supported my own cycling Adventures without fail.
Alas, he's departed on one last tour, pushed on ahead to make camp and set up the tents, fluff the bags, and get the stove warmed up for dinner. I'll be there eventually, but have a few last roads to explore before I arrive to join him.
Take care, Daddy Jack; 'love you dearly.
All the best,
Dan.
